


She Walked Like a Woman and Talked Like a Man

by colazitron



Category: One Direction
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-11
Updated: 2011-05-11
Packaged: 2017-11-27 04:39:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/658095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Party Time! Louis gives Harry a nickname and suddenly things come up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Walked Like a Woman and Talked Like a Man

**She Walked Like a Woman and Talked Like a Man**

It was probably a bad thing, Harry mused, that he only remembered the evening in bits and pieces and it wasn’t even two in the morning yet. Then again, he was pretty sure it wasn’t actually due to the alcohol he’d consumed so far, but due to the excitement. After all, it was rather easy to lose track in between a whirlwind of talking to random strangers and old mates, “dancing” with said people and last but not least being pushed to make out with one in a spontaneous and short-lived game of truth or dare that Harry was pretty sure was a ruse to get him to make out with Liam and nothing else.

But the three girls had been pretty and giggly and Harry had felt the precise moment he and Liam had both been charmed. And just as they had shot each other commiserating looks because they shouldn’t be this easy, really, Louis had slung an arm around Harry and giggled, “Come on, Lola, don’t be a prude.”

Zayn and Niall had pushed at Liam’s shoulders in a vaguely encouraging manner at the same time and scooted away from him – obviously to make room for Harry. Catching Liam’s eyes again, Harry had shrugged a hopefully nonchalant shoulder and waited for Liam to reach out his hand towards him.

“Get over here then,” Liam had grinned and Harry had tripped over his feet getting up, but crossed the wonky circle the growing number of spectators had formed and grabbed Liam’s hand, who pulled him down to sit on his lap without any hesitation.

“We need to get better at this ‘saying no’ thing,” Harry had grinned back and Liam had laughed his agreement before reaching up with his other hand and pulling Harry’s face down against his unceremoniously. Harry barely had time to feel his heart trip a bit before his lips settled over Liam’s and just like that they were kissing. It was almost disappointing how normal it felt, too. Liam’s lips were warm and when Harry opened his a little, he found they tasted mostly like beer and lips. The light scratch of stubble was new and so was the thought that he was kissing Liam, but apart from that it was just a kiss. Not a bad kiss. Actually, it was a really nice kiss and when Liam’s tongue prodded his lips apart, Harry acquiesced happily. But it was just what he’d always thought kissing his best friends would be like. Nice, but entirely spark-free.

Their audience was cheering and cat-calling and Harry could make out Louis’ and Aiden’s laughter and felt his shoulders start to shake in answer, until he had to pull back and put his head down on Liam’s shoulder instead, laughter bubbling out of him as well. Liam gave his head a pat that was all Liam and Harry found himself laughing even harder as he pushed himself back upright and stumbled back over to his place next to Louis.

“You did good, Lola,” Louis grinned before turning back into the conversation with Aiden, cutting off Harry’s question before he’d even started to ask.

But that was then and now was, well, now and now Harry found himself out on Matt’s rooftop terrace, catching his breath. The music and voices were clearly audible even through the mostly shut sliding doors and since the other three guests that had been out here, when Harry had stepped outside had went back in, he’d been sitting here alone.

“Been looking’ for you, Lola.”

Until Louis sat down next to him, leaning his head back to look at the sky the way Harry was.

“Spot any UFOs yet?”

“No, but it can’t be long,” Harry answered easily, his eyes falling shut when a rush of tiredness washed over him.

“Liam just found Niall asleep in there so they’ll be leaving soon. If we want to share a taxi we should too.”

“Hm, yeah, okay,” Harry agreed. He’d had his fun and didn’t feel like he was missing out on anything in particular if they left soon-ish. That was until the unmistakable first few bars of Liquido’s “Narcotic” came blasting from inside and Harry felt a sudden rush of energy.

“But first you have to dance with me,” he declared, grabbed Louis’ hand and pulled him up and back inside.

“What?” Louis laughed, but stumbled along after him easily enough and let himself be dragged into the middle of the throng of people more writhing and jumping than dancing. Really, it was the only thing you could do to that song, though. Harry let go of his wrist before turning around so he could grin at him as he joined into the general moving and singing. Louis laughed at him fondly, but Harry didn’t plan on being deterred that easily and kept motioning for Louis to sing with him until with rolled eyes he joined in the general chorusing of “I don't mind. I think so. I will let you go”. Aiden somehow emerged from the crowd about halfway through the song, laying an arm around Harry and Louis each and pulling them in. They hadn’t sung together in ages, even if what they were doing right now could not strictly be qualified as singing and Savan would probably have their heads for it. Harry figured that was part of the fun. This wasn’t trying for perfection; this was just free, good old fun. When the last bars merged with a new song, Harry curled his other arm around Louis and pulled both the older boys into a hug, giggling.

“You okay, Harry?” Aiden asked, but he was laughing himself, so he was probably just amused by the random outburst of affection.

“Brilliant, actually,” Harry grinned back and gave them a final squeeze before letting go.

“Okay, we can leave now,” he turned to Louis, who threw his head back in laughter.

“You’re leaving already?” Aiden butted in, his lower lip pushed forwards and eyebrows drawn together in a pout.

“Yeah, we can’t all stay over in the Cardlelion’s den,” Louis winked and earned himself a swat up the head.

“I just actually want to be awake for at least some of our days off,” Harry grinned.

“Alright, party poopers, but you better come by again soon,” Aiden smiled and gave each their shoulders a friendly squeeze when they vowed to just that before dancing off into the crowd. Harry and Louis themselves went around the apartment, looking for Matt to say goodbye and doing so to everyone they happened to come across as well, making the entire process last far too long. By the time they’d made it outside with Zayn, Liam and Niall, it was almost three am. They’d called their taxi earlier, so luckily they didn’t have to wait around for too long before they piled into the backseat. Niall ended up squished in between Louis and Zayn who, when Niall pulled a face to show his displeasure with the situation, made it their mission to obnoxiously take up as much space as possible. It didn’t take long for Niall to give up the protests and in the end – to the delight of the other four – he actually fell asleep with his legs buried beneath Zayn’s and one of his arms squeezed between Louis and the backrest, while his head had fallen comically sideways onto Zayn’s shoulder. It could not be comfortable, but Niall didn’t seem to mind too much.

“Well, this goes up on twitter,” Liam grinned, whipping out his phone and snapping a picture before posting it on twitter. Harry leaned over his shoulder to get a look at the picture and watch him type out a “party’s bin a bit much 4 Niallerrrr”.

“Show us, show us,” Louis demanded and Liam turned his phone around so Louis and Zayn could both see his handiwork.

“Your spelling is really atrocious,” Louis commented with raised eyebrows. Liam only rolled his eyes. The rest of the drive to Liam, Niall and Zayn’s was spent refreshing their twitter pages and reading out the most hilarious responses to each other, while Niall happily dozed on. When they reached their flat, Zayn carefully directed a sleepy Niall out of the car, dropping a “night, lads, good party” over his shoulder, while Niall nodded and yawned at Louis and Harry’s calls of “good night”. Liam waited for them to get out before unbuckling his belt and following them.

“We’re coming by tomorrow, so try not to keep each other up too long tonight,” he warned with a smile and got Louis’ fake affront for his trouble.

“When have we ever…” he started, but got interrupted by Liam’s “Good night, guys”.

“Aw, no kiss for ickle Harry?” Louis teased. Harry pushed his shoe into Louis’ shin, but Liam only turned around and pressed a short kiss onto Harry’s lips.

“See you tomorrow,” he smiled before either of the other two had time to react and closed the car door.

“Wasn’t expecting that,” Louis admitted, blinking at Harry, the surprise obvious on his face.

“You don’t say,” Harry rolled his eyes, before switching sides to sit down next to Louis. They gave the driver their address and spent the ride in silence, each following their own thoughts. Harry leaned his face against the cool glass and turned his eyes up to watch the street lights flash by, a familiar melody he couldn’t exactly place stuck in his ears.

He jerked awake when Louis grabbed his shoulder and shook him a little.

“C’mon, Lola, we’re home.”

Harry blinked the sleep out of his eyes and climbed out of the car, while Louis paid the driver and then followed him outside.

“Why do you keep calling me that?” he asked as they walked up to their front door.

“Call you what?”

“Lola. You’ve been calling me it all night.”

“Oh, that,” Louis laughed and twirled ahead a little.

“Because you had those red drinks early on and then your lips were all red just like cherry-cola, Lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-la.” Louis segued easily into song and twirled up the steps to their front door, before looking back at Harry.

“Cherry cola’s not actually red,” Harry pointed out, pulling out his keys, as Louis seemed to have no inclination to do so.

“You are such a nit-pick,” Louis complained, but he was still grinning and only as Harry pushed open the door and waited for Louis to step through before following him inside it clicked in his head that Louis must have been looking at his mouth to make his observation. And had then proceeded to allude to it in the name he called him all night.

“Alright there?” Louis asked, amusement evident in his voice when Harry tripped over his own feet.

“Yeah,” Harry answered. Louis pushed a little rhythm into the elevator button and Harry found himself stuck on “Louis was looking at my mouth” because either this was perfectly normal – after all Harry’s mouth was part of his face which tended to be where Louis looked when they talked to each other and his lips were a little more obvious than other people’s. So maybe it was really easily noticeable when they turned pinker than usual. He pressed his lips together in a weird and aborted attempt to hide them before turning his mind to the alternative. But… that was ridiculous, right? Louis wouldn’t go out of his way to look at Harry’s mouth of all things.

The elevator ding’ed softly when the doors opened and Louis stepped inside, leaning against the mirrored back wall. He closed his eyes and mouthed lyrics to himself that Harry recognized as more “Lo-lo-lo-lo-Lola” purely due to the repitions. He pushed the button for the eigth floor and turned back around to face Louis. He’d opened his eyes back up and was smiling lazily at Harry, his head resting tiredly against the wall of the elevator.

“Tonight was fun,” he commented. Harry only nodded.

“Why were you looking at my lips?” he asked, the night and fun and relaxation and a rest of alcohol making him loose and curious and carefree. Louis just grinned.

“Everyone’s always looking at your lips, Harry.”

“Yeah, alright. Why would you, though?” Maybe it was the switch back to no nicknames that had him pressing, but the way that Louis’ gaze flitted to the side made it obvious that there was more to it than just a little food colouring.

“Don’t ask me that,” Louis asked.

“Don’t call me Lola if you don’t want me asking,” Harry replied firmly. Louis swallowed and let his gaze drop from Harry down onto the floor before singing softly,

“Well, I’m not the world’s most passionate guy but when I looked in her eyes I almost fell for my Lola…”

Harry couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath. Was Louis trying to say what he thought he was saying? He reached out an arm to Louis, why he wasn’t entirely sure, but at that moment the doors opened and Louis stepped outside and out of his reach.

“You can’t just walk away from me,” Harry pointed out.

“I realize that, Harry. We live together,” Louis answered with an eye roll. He dug out his own keys to unlock their flat and left the door wide open for Harry to follow him inside.

“What were you trying to say just there?” Harry asked, toeing off his shoes and pushing the door shut behind him. He reached back to blindly fix the chain in place and followed Louis into the kitchen, who got himself a glass of water and took a drink before setting the glass down and curling his hands around the counter. Harry really wanted to stride over there and force him to turn around, but it was probably smarter if they stayed as unemotional as possible to work through this. A little ironic, actually, he thought.

“I don’t really know either,” Louis answered, his back still to Harry.

“You don’t know?” Harry asked, incredulous.

“No, not really. It’s-”

“Why say anything when you’re not even sure?” Harry interrupted.

“Because you asked. Whatever else, you’re still at least my best mate and I thought you deserved an answer,” Louis shot back, swiveling around and facing Harry with a determined expression. Determined to do what exactly Harry wasn’t sure.

“Okay, fair enough. What is it you’re not sure about then?”

“Pretty much everything is a mess in my head, right now. It’s been little more than half a year that all this started and now we’re recording an album and going on TV to do interviews and girls are screaming our names all over the bloody country and the only thing I’m really, really sure of is that I’m so glad I got to meet you. And sometimes, I don’t know… I’ve never been into guys, but sometimes… Sometimes I notice how pink your lips are or how soft your hair is or how long your fingers are and it’s fucking confusing, okay?”

Louis pushed one of his hands up to rake through his hair, interrupting his own speech.

“I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t have called you that and I shouldn’t have told you any of this, but it’s always so easy to tell you anything.”

Louis’ smile was a bit wobbly, but still honest and at least unafraid. Harry found his heart pounding in his chest and heat crawl down his back. Before he could really think about it, he crossed the kitchen in a few determined steps and pressed his lips against Louis’ in a careful kiss, pulling him in by his hips. Louis made surprised sound and brought his hands up against Harry’s chest, his fingers dancing over Harry’s collar bones, like he couldn’t quite decide if he should push him away.

It was nothing like kissing Liam. Even though Louis returned the pressure of Harry’s lips only very tentatively and Harry didn’t dare do anything other than press chaste little kisses onto Louis’ mouth, he felt his cheeks heat up and his heart continued its fast beat. Louis’ fingers curled into the collar of Harry’s jumper, before he seemed to change his mind and pushed Harry back.

“Don’t do this if it’s a joke, Harry, please.”

“I’m not jerking you around, Louis. I don’t know what this is either. I mean… sometimes I think you’re a little bit perfect, but it didn’t even really occur to me that that could mean anything until just now.”

“We can’t all be brilliant,” Louis sighed dramatically and Harry pinched the skin of his hips in retaliation.

“I… I’d really like it if you gave me a chance to find out,” he finally said. Louis blinked up at him for a few moments, before letting a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

“Are you asking me out?”

“I think so, yeah,” Harry confirmed, feeling light-headed and ridiculously happy all of a sudden.

“Promise me something.”

“Alright,” Harry agreed and Louis ducked his head for a moment, still smiling. Harry really had to learn how to say ‘no’.

“Our friendship comes first. If this starts to pull us apart, we stop.”

“Promise.”

“Alright. Then, yeah, you can have all the chances you want.”

Harry grinned at him, before wrapping his arms around Louis tighter, pulling him into a hug. Laughing, Louis returned the gesture. This was probably really crazy and potentially very stupid but that sort of made it right up their street.

“Will you sleep in my room tonight?” Harry asked, his voice muffled as his face was still pressed into Louis’ neck.

“Not to do anything, just…” he amended quickly, feeling a blush rise over his cheeks.

“Yeah, alright,” Louis agreed easily and Harry pulled back to kiss him again. This time, Louis pulled Harry closer with his arms that were still circled around his neck. He nipped at Harry’s lower lip playfully and winked at Harry, when he opened his eyes for a moment. Their smiles made the kissing difficult for a few moments, but when Louis opened his mouth to Harry’s tongue, all thoughts of laughter were immediately gone from either of their heads. The thrill racing down his spine felt delicious and Harry was sure that even if they would turn out not to work long-term, he was never going to regret this. Bending down a little, he gripped Louis’ thighs right under his arse and lifted him up. Out of reflex, Louis wound his legs around Harry’s waist.

“What are you doing?” he asked, laughter evident in his voice and pulling back a bit to look at Harry, from the corner of his eye. Harry looked back, an answering smile spreading over his face.

“Impressing you,” he answered cheekily and Louis couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, I’m not the world’s most masculine man, but I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man and so is Lola,” he sang, with a giggle in his voice as Harry carried him out of the kitchen, Louis hitting the light switch on the way, and through the living room into his bed room.

“It’s working,” he whispered into Harry’s ear as he set his feet back onto the ground and pressed a short kiss to the corner’s of Harry’s smug smile before shoving him away, with a laugh.

“Don’t let it get to your head though,” he warned. He tore off his jumper, jeans and socks, dropping them onto the floor. Right now that bed looked way too enticing for Louis to care about where his clothes ended up and Harry wasn’t the tidiest person anyway. A few clothes on the floor wouldn’t make a difference. He climbed in under the covers immediately, shivering a little when the cold material came into contact with his heated skin. Watching Harry pull off his own clothes, he sang another few lines to himself.

“That’s the way I want it to stay and I always want it to be that way for my Lola.”

Harry smiled at him sweetly, before turning out the light and closing the door. Louis blinked against the darkness and then Harry was slipping into bed next to him.

“I’m stuck with that nickname now, right?” he asked.

“Definitely.”

“Good night, Louis,” Harry snorted in amusement and reached for one of Louis’ hands under the covers, circling his hand around it and pulling it in between them.

“Good night, Lola,” Louis grinned back and gave Harry’s hand an affectionate squeeze. Harry laughed quietly to himself before letting his eyes slip shut, the day finally catching up with him and dragging him off to sleep.

**The End**


End file.
